Monthly Archives: January 2009

Travel Books, the classifieds of trade publishing

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Eoin Purcell

Clouds in Coffee
One of the first signs of the collapse of newspaper franchises was the expansion of listing & selling services like craigslist (in Ireland craigslist never got off the ground because of homegrown success, DAFT) and ebay.

Before big business started to drive online ads, small time folks like you and me realised that apartments could be rented, books sold and collectors editions found much more efficiently online than through the pages of a newspaper.

Travel Books Are Classifieds (kinda)
Well I’ve always thought of travel books as the kind of things that will be one of the first real `signs of trade books facing change. Which is why I was intrigued by the news in The Bookseller today that sales in the travel genre were down:

Book sales for the travel genre have been hit hard by the financial crisis, with Nielsen BookScan figures revealing an 8.7% drop by value on last year’s total.

The most revealing paragraph in the story is this one:

Although the total genre is down 8.7% in revenue terms, travel and holiday guides themselves are down only 4.8% in volume. The genres worst hit in 2008 were road atlases and street plans, which suffered year-on-year losses of 12.6% and 19.6% by value.

The TomTom and the Garmin are killing books that offer a service that is better delivered through a digital means.

There is another factor though and the article touches on it too:

the “where to stay, eat and drink” sub-genre is down 20.9% in terms of value and the rise in popularity of internet websites that provide this type of information was partially blamed for this.

BLAMED FOR THIS seems a bit harsh to me. They are the explanation but they are hardly to blame. Consumers have figured out they can access this information much more easily online and as mobile internet becomes a more pleasant experience the demand for online travel information will grow and become even more useful as the power of GPS & Location software offers instant advice.

And where does this leave us?
To some extent I feel like I am stating the obvious. There is still a role for publishers and professional content creators in this. Trusted brands will still retain caché and there is absolutely no reason why they cannot thrive on the internet and build communities around travel like Boo is trying to.

Lonely Planet for instance is making itself into a much more digital brand under BBC guidance and its pretty experienced new chief Matthew Goldberg. Look at their frontpage, it is almost devoid of books! I think that is interesting.

Ah, the dream of FUNCTIONING mobile internet with real information, it WILL happen one day you know!
And not that far away either,
Eoin

Tubridy Signs Two Book Deal

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It’s a pretty BIG deal
I spotted this earlier on The Bookseller but the Indo has it too.

I think is actually a pretty interesting development. It will certainly be interesting to see what comes from it. I’ve long felt that Tubridy is a little wasted in his 9am morning radio slot and would like to dig into the meatier stuff that Pat Kenny tackles from 10-12!

Watching it all go by writing notes on a twice contracted length manuscript.
Eoin

Bloomsbury buys Arden Shakespeare

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Eoin Purcell

Bolt on Acquisitions & Imprints
Seem to be the order of the day for Bloomsbury and nice, niche plays at that. Following the arrival of Bloomsbury Academic in September, the acquisition of Berg only a short time later, and the rather clever Wisden acquisition Bloomsbury today announced that they had acquired Arden Shakespeare from Cengage and would return it to the Muthuen Drama [which was itself only acquired by Bloomsbury in 2006] imprint where it originated away back in 1899.

Reference is the star
What interests me about all of this is the way in which Bloomsbury is developing is almost in complete opposition to its original source of growth (ie Harry Potter). The academic list and the expansion of A&C Black (which has turned out gems like Don’ts for Wives & Don’ts for Husbands) is proving a nice route for the publisher.

Is this the future?
It further occurs to me that nearly all the moves place them in a position to exploit the brand potential of all these properties and to do that through new digital avenues if and when they choose to. All told Bloomsbury has acquired or built a tidy little reference and academic division featuring quality brands and properties. I think we may see more small acquisitions along this line over the next few years.

It is entirely possible, if seemingly unlikely, that in a decade we will know Bloomsbury more for reference and niche publishing than for Potter!

Cold tonight!
Eoin

Links of Interest (At Least to Me) 06/01/2009

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Eoin Purcell

An interesting acquisition by Pandora and relevant because Badger is part of Edco a primarily Irish firm.
Here

Only $1.6 Million for Laura Bush, maybe this recession IS hitting celeb biogs.
Here

But then you read the Leona Lewis will write one and you realise that no, it’s alive and kicking
Here

I’m not a fan of the Princess Diaries series, but then I’m not the target audience, I do like the little sweet spot at the end. They are publishing a companion volume that is supposed to have been written by the lead character. NICE!
Here

WSJ have pretty much made the whole of this article on the book industry free access and its well worth reading and considering
Here

Borders US has a new boss, out with the old in with the new I suppose.
Here

Just before Christmas The New York Observer had a nice piece on Bloomsbury USA.
Here

One author tells publishers where they went wrong
Here

Pointing in the almost unavoidable direction of the digital, Lonely Planet appoints a new CEO
Here

David does a whip around of 2008 so we don’t have to!
Here

God there are a lot today! I think tomorrow I’ll emerge from my festive/toochache fug and post some more!
Eoin